Tough test for SA Davis Cup team

The public may not be familiar with the Moroccan line-up for this weekend's Davis Cup tie against South Africa.

But former South Africa captain Kevin Curren reckons that that certainly does not mean the South Africans will have it easy.

“It's a tie away from home and it's on clay and the South Africans next to never play on clay,” said Curren, who stepped down as captain after the last tie against Germany.

“No matter who they play, it's going to be difficult, and so a win would be an excellent result for the South Africans.”

The Moroccans will be without the well-known faces of Younes El Aynaoui and Hicham Arazi for the clash taking place from Friday until Sunday at the Club Olympic de Tennis in Khemisset.

And they have included Davis Cup rookie Talal Ouahabi in their line-up to play alongside Mehdi Ziadi, Mounir El Aarej and Mehdi Tahiri.

The South Africa team consists of Justin Bouwer, Chris Haggard, Jeff Coetzee and Rik de Voest (who was forced to withdraw from the Germany tie in March at the last minute because of illness).

Curren acknowledged that there will be a fair amount of pressure on De Voest because he is the highest ranked singles player in the South African team.

“But in my experience, he has always performed well in the Davis Cup,” Curren said.

“He has always played above himself and seems to produce his best tennis for Davis Cup matches.”

Curren added that the team are likely to miss the services of Wesley Moodie, who performed so admirably against Germany earlier this year and then went on to take the Wimbledon doubles title with Australian Stephen Huss.

“I'm sure they will miss him. Wesley has proved that he is a force to be reckoned with,” said Curren. “But having said that, clay is far and away his weakest surface and I'm sure that the other guys in the team will be able to give a really good account of themselves.”

As for being away from the team for the first tie in three and a half years, Curren merely described himself as “a keen observer”.

“I really hope the boys do well and that for JL's (new captain John-Laffnie de Jager) sake, he can get off to a good start. I saw him at the US Open and had a long chat to him there,” said Curren. “We are all pulling together for the same objective and all want the best for SA tennis.”

Should the South Africans win this tie, they will retain their place in the Euro-Africa zone group one, which means next year they will have the chance to fight their way up to the World Group.

Should things not go their way, however, the team will be relegated to the Euro-Africa zone group two.

The draw for this weekend's clash takes place on Thursday.